


Happy Nick's Day, Valentine!

by PearOh



Series: Fallout Fics [2]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, I have no idea what the actual lore regarding Valentine's Day is, Nick/Sole if you squint, Pre-War Nick/Jenny mentioned, Sole/Nora mentioned, Valentine's Day, so I'm basically just pulling stuff out of my butt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:06:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22723660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PearOh/pseuds/PearOh
Summary: Nick knows Steve would never miss a chance to have fun at his expense on Valentine's Day. Yet, when the Sole Survivor doesn't show up in Diamond City, he decides to take matters into his own hands and heads to Sanctuary.
Relationships: Male Sole Survivor & Nick Valentine
Series: Fallout Fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1537783
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	Happy Nick's Day, Valentine!

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!  
> This piece might not be overtly romantic, but everyone deserves a bit of tenderness on this day :)  
> Hope you enjoy it!

Valentine's Day, like a lot of things, died on the day the bombs dropped from the sky. It was one of those pre-war traditions that had ranked very low in the wastelanders' priorities. Even ghouls had stopped celebrating it eventually. They'd either become disillusioned with the concepts of love and romance, or they'd lost track of time. But Nick remembered it — or rather, he knew about it through the memories the Institute had downloaded into his noggin — hence the corny, heart-shaped, pink neon sign that led to his office. It was supposed to be a preemptive joke: “Name’s Valentine, get over it!” But most people didn't get it and he'd had to explain to Ellie that no, it wasn't meant to be taken as a symbol of how he worked at reuniting loved ones together.

But Steve had lived most of his life in the pre-apocalypse world, he remembered the holiday and had a Pip-Boy to remind him of the date. And, as Nick had learned pretty quickly, the man was the funny sort. Not that he minded the occasional quip as it gave him opportunities to sharpen his own tongue, but it meant that today, his new partner wouldn't miss the chance to have a laugh at his expense. Sifting through his pre-war memories, he remembered how much _Nick_ 's old buddies at the precinct had enjoyed teasing him endlessly on his name. Jenny had too, but she'd been lovely and _Nick_ had always taken her out to celebrate in some classy restaurant by the river.

So it came as a surprise to the old synth when Steve _didn't_ show up in Diamond City that day. At six in the afternoon, he picked up his coat and fedora, deciding the situation was worth investigating.

“Ellie! I'm heading to Sanctuary. Don't wait up.”

“You be careful out there, Nick.”

“I always am.”

The walk to Sanctuary went down with barely an itch. The Minutemen were doing a good job keeping the trade routes between settlements as safe as possible and Nick only had to draw his gun once to take care of a few pesky bloatflies.

Sanctuary had grown into an impressive settlement that would soon rival the great green jewel herself. Considering that only a few months ago, it had been nothing more than an abandoned neighborhood, it was quite the achievement. Thanks to the Minutemen's dedication and Steve's valuable help, Sanctuary was now a flourishing trade stop.

Preston was the Minuteman on watch duty today. His face broke into a smile as he watched the detective cross the bridge.

“Nick!” He greeted him with a strong handshake and a friendly pat on the shoulder. “It's good to see you here. You should visit more often.”

“Ah, you know how it is. I've been busy with cases,” he explained apologetically. “Is Steve around?”

“Yeah, I think he's home. Saw Shaun and Codsworth playing hide and seek by the old tree earlier if you want to say hi.”

Nick smiled. “Will do. Thanks, Preston.”

He found the duo exactly where the Minuteman had said they would be. Codsworth was floating in circles around the tree, pretending not to see the child hidden behind a fence.

“Ah, Mister Valentine. Just the man I needed. I'm afraid I might need the help of your detective skills in finding young Shaun.”

Nick played along, “Well, let's see… If I were a ten-year-old boy, where would I hide? Behind the generator? No, too easy. On the roof? Too high. Ah-ha! There he is!”

He ruffled the boy’s hair with his good hand. “Ah, no fair!” Shaun laughed. “You're the greatest detective in the world, of course you were going to find me.”

“You flatter me, kid. Say, your dad around here somewhere?”

“Mister Steve is in the house, ‘doing some clean up’ or so he says,” Codsworth huffed. “I told him repeatedly that I was programmed to perform all domestic chores flawlessly but he insisted I go out with Shaun and ‘have a bit of fun.’” The poor Mister Handy sounded almost insulted at the idea that someone else might do the job for him. “If you could, perhaps, talk some sense into him…”

“I'll see what I can do, Codsworth.”

The door to the house was slightly ajar, Magnolia was singing about Goodneighbor on the radio. Nick could hear Steve humming to the song.

“Hello? Anyone home?”

He found his friend in the living room, standing on a chair and hanging old pre-war decorations on the wall. _Birthday_ decorations, of all things.

“Oh, hey Nick!”

“I see you're having a party. My invite must have gotten lost in the mail,” he teased his friend.

“Oh crap, what time is it? I meant to come down to Diamond City and pick you up, I swear!” His face reddened. “But I, erm, I got a little overwhelmed with the preparations. I wanted to ask Shaun for help setting all this up, but I recently learned that he's very bad at keeping secrets.”

“It's quite alright,” Nick reassured him. “So, whose birthday is it anyway?”

“Codsworth!”

“That explains why you chased him out of the house, then.”

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose, groaning in exasperation. “You have no idea how hard that was.”

“It would have been easier if you hadn't told him you wanted to do his work. Poor fella was feeling bad enough as it is.”

“It's the first thing that came into my mind,” he said, jumping down from the chair before going to the fridge to pick up a couple of beers.

He handed one of them to Nick as they sat together on the sofa. The synth didn't _need_ to eat or drink, nor would he feel the effects of the alcohol, but he had noticed long ago that people tended to be more at ease around him if he acted more ‘human’. Besides, the Institute had built him with taste sensors for some reason, might as well use them.

“So, Codsworth has a birthday? This one should be easy to remember.”

Steve nodded solemnly. “We activated him a year ago today— or well, two hundred years ago, I guess— two hundred and eleven… It was a gift for Nora, to help her around the house. She was already in her third trimester by then.” He chuckled, reminiscing on old memories. “I tinkered with his programming a little before we activated him, made him call her ‘mum’. It was a joke, but she loved it.”

Steve took a swig of his drink, seemingly lost in thoughts. Of course this day would remind him of the people he'd lost. The man was always so friendly and cheery, it was easy to forget how much he'd gone through in the past few months.

“She sounds like a great gal.”

“Yeah, she was. You would have liked her.” A small smile etched at the corner of his lips. “Oh, before I forget again! I’ve got something for you.”

“And here I thought it was Codworth’s birthday, not mine.”

Steve stretched his arm out to grab something from the nearest coffee table. It was a yellow piece of cardboard (that had likely been white once upon a time) with a big, crudely drawn heart. In the middle was written ‘Happy Nick's Day, Valentine!’ The pink letters were of varying sizes as if Steve had realized half-way through that his handwriting was too big. The end result still looked pretty enough though.

“Cute. You made it yourself?”

“It's not like there are a ton of Valentine's Day cards just lying around out there, what with the world ending on Halloween and everything.”

“A shame they didn't wait a few more months before dropping those damn bombs, huh?”

“Hey! I put a lot of heart into this one-of-a-kind card,” he said, faking offense. “Quite literally, actually — I had to make ten of them because the heart never looked right. It's still a little crooked, but it's the thought that counts.”

“Yes, it is.” Nick offered him a warm smile. “Thanks, I appreciate the sentiment. I really do.”

As they sat there, drinking together, a feeling of peace washed over him. He realized then that there was no one else he would rather spend the rest of his day with.


End file.
